New Balance is in beta mode. New Balance debuted a new brand platform – Always in Beta – the brand’s “promise to relentlessly improve, to never stop pushing and to always strive for more.”
The company’s marketing message centers on the brand’s intent to improve upon the products created in its 100-year-plus history.

That theme will be played out in a new television commercial called The Storm, that follows a young woman pushing through her limits with the help of other athletes, among them tennis players Milos Raonic, Heather Watson and Nicole Gibbs.

It is New Balance’s first global campaign, “an attempt to become a truly international, multisport athletic brand like its rival with the Swoosh.”
While “long known for running shoes and casual footwear”, New Balance has recently branched out into football, baseball, tennis and cricket. New Balance CEO Rob DeMartini said,

“It’s an effort to position our brand up against the biggest in our category in footwear, apparel and accessories and in multiple sports.”

Nike’s “Find Your Fast” campaign brings together some of the planet’s beacons of speed to inspire athletes to run or train for their fastest time this summer. Whether preparing for a first mile or looking to shave seconds or minutes off a personal record, all athletes can get faster.

“Fast in tennis means always being in the point. No matter what an opponent sends my way I can get it. Because you can’t hit what you can’t reach!” – Serena Williams

“Being fast in tennis is everything. If I’m quicker to the ball I’m in greater control and I can exert my will on the match and the opponent. Fast wins matches. I want everything about me on court to be fast.” – Rafael Nadal

Engineered specifically for Serena Williams, the NikeCourt Flare delivers stability through a lightweight, minimal design. The shoe, designed by Aaron Cooper at Nike, was created in response to Serena’s ankle issues.

“At the time, I was having issues rolling my ankle,” Williams says. “So I wanted to create a shoe that would give me a lot of stability and make me a better player.”

According to Cooper, the silhouette was inspired by the collection of KOBE signature shoes, kung fu masters and the idea of footwear being an extension of the body.

“Serena was looking for a shoe with more stability that was bigger and more built up,” Cooper says. “What she actually needed was the complete opposite; something that was less built up and with a lower profile. She needed something that would really work with her as a second skin.”

The NikeCourt flare will be Serena Williams’ tennis shoe for Wimbledon.

“This shoe really is an extension of my foot,” Williams says. “And when you think about it, if you’re at home in your house and you don’t have shoes on, you just don’t think about anything else. It’s just your body. And that’s what this shoe is all about.”

Learn more about the design process:

The NikeCourt Flare, a women’s only model, is now available in select Nike retailers and on nike.com/nikecourt.

There were three major incidents that year, all of them utterly extraordinary, dramatic and traumatic in their own way. The first involved a young Tim Henman, then playing in only his second Wimbledon. I had known Tim since he was a young teenager when I was refereeing junior tournaments in Surrey. Although he was largely unknown to the British public at this time, he was a player of outstanding promise and those who had watched his development, with the help of Jim Slater and David Lloyd, were convinced that Britain had finally managed to produce a player of truly world-class potential – the best since Perry, many claimed. In my association with him up to that time, I had found Henman to be impeccably courteous, even-tempered and good-natured character – the last person on a tennis court you would expect to have to throw the book at for a breach of the rules.

Henman, who had lost in the second round of the singles to the defending champion Sampras in straight sets earlier in the day, was involved in a doubles match out on Court 14, now situated outside the new broadcasters’ complex between Centre Court and the new Court 1. He was partnering his fellow Britton Jeremy Bates against Swede Henrik Holm and a live-wire character called Jeff Tarango who I would get to know all too well by the end of that fortnight.Read More

It’s always a joy for me to watch former great champions battle on the court. I really had a great time watching the final of the Legends Trophy opposing Martina Navratilova and Kim Clijsters to Lindsay Davenport and Mary Joe Fernandez. 18 + 4 + 3 that’s 25 singles Grand Slam titles on the court!
Every time I see her play I’m amazed by Navratilova’s play at the net. She’s in her late 50s but she’s still has it!

Clijsters and Navratilova captured the title for the second year in a row (I can’t remember the score…). And guess who presented the trophy? None other than 4-time Roland Garros champion Justine Henin.